Net Primary Production (NPP) Project

Overview

The ORNL DAAC Net Primary Production (NPP) data set collection contains field measurements of biomass and
estimated NPP for terrestrial study sites worldwide, compiled from published literature and other extant
data sources. Compilation of these data sets was sponsored by the Terrestrial Ecology Program of
NASA's Office of Earth
Science.

The NPP data set collection contains 82 data sets for 65 intensive study sites broken down by biome as
follows:

9 Boreal Forest Sites

35 Grassland Sites

3 Temperate Forest Sites

18 Tropical Forest Sites

2 Tundra Sites

Some combination of above-ground annual peak live biomass data and/or seasonal biomass dynamics data is
available for all sites. Many sites also have data on below-ground biomass and/or turnover. A number of
previously compiled multi-site, multi-biome data sets of georeferenced NPP estimates are also provided in this
data set collection.

The ORNL DAAC NPP Data archive includes data products from the following categories:

Get NPP Data

Visualize NPP

Click on the image below to watch a 47-second video.

2001-2002 Net Primary Productivity

This false-color map represents the Earth's "carbon metabolism" -- the rate at which
plants absorb carbon out of the atmosphere. The map shows the global annual average of the net productivity of
vegetation on land and in the ocean during 2001-2002. The yellow and red areas show the highest rates, ranging
from 2 to 3 kilograms of carbon taken in per square meter per year. The green, blue, and purple shades show
progressively lower productivity.